WOMEN IN THE VEDAS

INTRODUCTION

India is, and has been patriarchal and hierarchical as far as can be established historically. Vedic times remains the focus of this article since today’s gender discrimination policies owe much to those times. Let us see how much agency women had over their own lives.

WOMEN IN THE VEDIC PERIOD

From the modern lens, the Early vedic period was no respite for the female sex. Women had to depend on the men to sanction them rights and validate their actions. This virtual slavery was established, given form to and institutionalise physically in the Later Vedic period. Women are divorced, abandoned, sold or killed at the mere whim of men. The treatment meted out to them is primarily because in primitive life the muscle was an indispensable element in success and the man was stronger in it than the woman. He fought with the animals to protect the women and children. Physical prowress, bodily vigour, and muscular strength, established man’s permanent superiority over women. Opinion in favour of early marriage of girls, soon grows since the time of the Dharma-sutras. The age recommended in those texts is sometimes three years after attaining puberty and sometimes merely three months after it. Soon, marriage before puberty came to be the general practice. The logic working behind this, was that the girl’s purity, ultimately synonymous to her virginity had to be saved. A later Smriti writer advocates the marriage of girls at a very early age, literally speaking, when they could go about naked without indecency, and adds that she must be married before puberty, even if no suitable husband was available. Thus, pre-puberty marriages and even infant marriages became the normal practice, as according to the scriptures and the general tendency of the society to conform to the scriptural injunction can hardly be doubted. Girls married at an early age could scarcely receive any education before the elementary stage and as marriage came to be regarded as obligatory, they had no option to studentship, like Brahmavadinis of older age. A lack of knowledge of the vedas, ultimately made them unfit to perform sacrifices and various sacraments. Therefore, women lost the status of dwija or twice-born, and came to be regarded as Shudras - unfit for reciting or even listening to Vedic hymns. Bhagavad-gita states that “even those who are born sinners, as well as women, Vaishyas and Shudras may obtain salvation by devotion to the lord; what to speak of Brahamans and Kshatriyas.” This idea is again emphasized by Narada when he says that women must ever remain dependent on others, because, as they are not entitled to study the shastras, they do not know what is proper or what is improper. The marriage was the turning point in the life of girls. Bereft of any education worth the name, regarded as ineligible for any holy sacraments or religious rights, and too young to exercise any influence over her husband, the position of the woman in society and family deteriorated. Woman resembled to that of an obedient servant, rather than a co-ordinate authority and an equal partner. Manu produces the fundamental principle that “day and night women must be kept in dependence by the males (of) their (families). Her father protects her in childhood, her husband protects her in youth, and her sons protect her in old age; a woman is never fit for independence.” As already seen, Narada justifies this on the ground that women, having no knowledge of the shastras, are unable to discern what is wrong and what is right. Manu, however, goes on to say that women are by nature of such a depraved character that they are sure to go astray if not kept under rigid control. It is against such background that we can understand the detailed injunctions laid by Manu for regulating the relationship between husband and wife. “Even though the husband be of bad character and seeks pleasure elsewhere he must be constantly worshipped as a god by a faithful wife” (5. 154). “If a wife shows disrespect to a husband who is addicted to (some evil) passion, who is a drunkard, or who is diseased, (she) shall be deserted for three months and be deprived of her ornaments and furniture” (9. 78). A vicious husband must be worshipped, but a bad wife, at any time be superseded (by another wife) (9. 80). Even apart from this the husband may discard the wife on various other grounds. There is also a gradual increasing emphasis on women as an object of sensual pleasure. Even the great poet Kalidas, who draws an ideal picture of the wife, to which there is hardly any parallel in literature, excuses the banishment of Sita by Rama on ground that a man prefers fame and glory over his wife, who is after all an object of sensual pleasure. The ascetic ideas which came into prominence about the sixth century B.C. laid stress on the temptations offered by women and regarded them as chief obstacles to salvation. It should be remembered that such feelings against women was almost universally held throughout the world down to the very recent times. Confucius, Aristotle, Milton, and even Rousseau preached that women, being inherently inferior to men, should always remain in a subordinate position to men. Finally, it may be mentioned that as against the strong denunciations of women referred to above, we find some writers making a spirted defense of their character and highly eulogizing them. The following passage in Varahamihira’s Brihat Samhits is in refreshing contrast with the passages in Manu-smriti, Mahabharata and other texts condemning women in unmeasured terms: “Tell me truly, what faults attributed to women have not been also practiced by men? Men in their audacity treat women with contempt, but they really possess more virtues (than men)… Men owe their birth to women, but they really possess more virtues than men…men care very little for the shastras (while women do); therefore women are superior to men.” These words reflect the higher minds of Hindu society, but barring certain poets, Varahamihira’s was a solitary voice raised in the defence of women and in appreciation of their worth. Vedic texts of this time have referernces to women being included in Daksina along with cattle, horses, chariots and so on. So women have been a chattle in India since very long After all, there remains a natural instinct in a normal man to cherish affection for his daughter, love for his wife, and respect for his mother. These feelings were sure to prevail in a long run, and counteract to a large extent the teachings of the Smritis allotting a subordinate position of inferiority of men. A sweet, loving and obedient wife has been held up as the ideal. So strongly is the duty of obedience sought to be inculcated into the heart of every women that even the spirited Draupadi is represented as submitting herself to the worst humiliation that can befall a nobel woman. The story of Sati emphasizes the fact that devotion to the husband must supersede all other feelings, even filial piety. The ordinances laid down in the Smritis, and such ideal women as those mentioned above, portrayed in literature, have molded Indian womanhood to a new type which has been held as the glory of Hindu culture for more than a thousand years.

QUESTIONS TO ASK..

How far such self-surrender and meek devotion or blind love can be regarded as equivalent to, or can compensate for, intellectual enlightenment and other virtues and accomplishments, which are the birth right of every human being, may be a subject of dispute, but it is incumbent on all of us to assess the proper worth and recognize the moral value of a phase of life that is fast passing away after an unchequered existence of more than a thousand years.

By :- AASTHA MEHTA